Associations Between Physical Pain, Pain Management, and Frequency of Nonmedical Prescription Opioid Use Among Young Adults: A Sex-specific Analysis
Authors
Evans, Tristan I.Liebling, Elliott J.
Green, Traci C.
Hadland, Scott E.
Clark, Melissa A.
Marshall, Brandon D. L.
UMass Chan Affiliations
Center for Health Policy and ResearchDepartment of Quantitative Health Sciences
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2017-07-01Keywords
Nervous SystemPathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms
Psychological Phenomena and Processes
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine sex-specific associations between experiences of physical pain, pain management, and frequency of nonmedical prescription opioid (NMPO) use among young adults. METHODS: Among participants enrolled in the Rhode Island Young Adult Prescription Drug Study, we identified associations between physical pain in the past 6 months, pain history, pain management, polysubstance use, and weekly NMPO use. In sex-specific models, independent correlates of weekly NMPO use were identified via modified stepwise Poisson regression. RESULTS: Of 199 participants, the mean age was 24.6, and 65.3% were male. The racial composition was 16.6% black, 60.8% white, and 22.1% mixed or other race. A total of 119 (59.8%) participants reported weekly or greater NMPO use. The majority of male (86.2%) and female (84.1%) participants reported ever experiencing severe pain. A majority of males (72.3%) and females (81.2%) reported that they engaged in NMPO use to treat their physical pain, and one-quarter (26.9%) of males and one-third (36.2%) of females had been denied a prescription from a doctor to treat severe pain. Among males, frequent NMPO use was independently associated with white race (P < 0.001) and reporting greater physical pain (P = 0.002). Among females, older age (P = 0.002) and monthly or greater nonmedical benzodiazepine use (P = 0.001) were independently associated with weekly NMPO use. CONCLUSIONS: Among young men in Rhode Island, physical pain may be related to frequent NMPO use. More research is needed to identify sex-specific, pain-related factors that are linked with NMPO use to improve harm reduction and pain management interventions.Source
J Addict Med. 2017 Jul/Aug;11(4):266-272. doi: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000000318. Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1097/ADM.0000000000000318Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/29171PubMed ID
28514234Related Resources
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1097/ADM.0000000000000318